In the Field: Photo Blog by Richard Wong

Photography field reports by Richard Wong. Richard’s work has been published in magazines, books, advertising, and offers fine art prints of his work. Images may be licensed as rights-managed stock photos by contacting Richard directly at Richard@rwongphoto.com or (626) 422-6151. California stock photography, fine art prints, photo blog: www.rwongphoto.com

$450 Admission to Macro World.

Posted on | March 11, 2006 | No Comments

In last week’s post, I mentioned that I was impressed with the Canon 60mm macro lens when i tried it at Powell Camera in Covina and that it was out of my budget. Well a week has gone by and today I decided not to deprive myself of another spring of creative flower photography opportunities. This lens only works on the cropped format DSLR cameras for Canon so if you’re a Rebel or 20D user this is made for your camera. If you shoot a 5D or 1D series then you’re out of luck. Though the 100 and 150 are compatible with those cameras.

Freesia

My reasons for choosing the 60mm is because I don’t like shooting flowers from 10 feet away. The 60mm’s shorter length forces you to get closer to the subject in order to fill the frame. It’s kind of the same philosophy as using a wide angle lens in photojournalism. Getting closer allows for a more intimate experience with the subject. Plus vibration and DOF are less of a factor with the shorter macro I believe since that’s how normal lens are typically.

Macro detail of Bird of Paradise

I’m a newbie at macro photography. Ironically, flower and garden photography is how I got my start into serious photography with SLR’s about six years ago. I learned basic photography techniques by shooting flowers at Descanso & Huntington Gardens, my parent’s backyard and at my grandmother’s house. I began with print film, then moved on to slide film. It was then that I began to understand how to spot meter. Slide film was too expensive to waste on experimentation, so I made sure each frame counted. It was around then that I got my first Digital SLR also. I figured why have re-occuring costs when I could shoot thousands of images for the cost of a couple CD-R’s. So I shot about 50% slide film and 50% digital in 2002 until I moved to San Francisco and have shot mostly digital since then. It’s the sign of the times I suppose that I began photography shooting flowers on 35mm film with a cheap 70-300mm 1:2 zoom lens and now six years later have returned to flowers with a digital macro lens on a DSLR.

Azalea Macro Detail

Thoughts:

1. Use a tripod if possible unless you can handhold the camera steadier than I can. (I’m pathetic at steadiness.) I tried shooting some handheld but nothing came out sharp at 100% magnification. Focusing precisely where you want at 1:1 is very difficult even with a tripod so I can’t imagine ever being accurate while shooting handheld unless I’m lucky.

2. Consider depth of field – I’m trying to learn what works and what doesn’t in the world of macro photography. DOF is so shallow at 1:1 that proper use of DOF can make or break the image.

See more of my macro photos.

Category: Technique
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